Work and play

American Airlines canceled thousands of future flights last week, disrupting the plans of hundreds of thousands of travelers because its stressed-out pilots have had it with mandatory overtime. Mandatory overtime was a major sticking point in the failed negotiations that led to the Verizon strike that disrupted telephone service from Maine to Virginia. In the high-tech field, the dawn-to-dark workday is the norm, the 50-hour workweek is virtually a vacation.

Welcome to the future. That bright and shining future in which technology was supposed to free workers from the daily grind, opening up unprecedented opportunities for recreation, family, exploring new interests and just plain loafing. Tell that to angry and tired health care workers; theirs is an industry that demands highly skilled people around the clock and that is experiencing an epidemic of burnout.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Standards, Americans work an average of 46 hours per week, the highest in the world, surpassing the tireless Japanese two years ago. Overtime averages 4.6 hours per week in manufacturing, up to six in some sectors. In a picket-line interview in Boston, one Verizon worker said he’s forced to log 15 to 20 extra hours a week in the summer; he can’t remember the last time he got to watch his kid play baseball.

Overtime was once the last resort, an extraordinary measure reserved for that rush order, the extenuating circumstance. The worker pulled the double shift; the employer forked over the time and a half, the crisis passed. Now, it increasingly is the norm; recruiting, training and retaining adequate staff is the new last resort. Dress-down Day, Casual Friday and other such shams merely create the illusion of leisure.

The tight labor market may be the cause. It also may be the symptom – American workers are sick and tired of being tired.

This is an important issue at a time when there are good reasons to worry about whether America’s children are getting the parental guidance and involvement they need to resist the many bad influences popular culture offers. With the presidential campaign now fully under way, both major-party candidates will have much to say about the economy. Vice President Gore will remind voters of the boom that has occurred under the administration in which he serves. Gov. Bush will assert that the boom will grown even louder under the administration he offers. It will be interesting to see whether either has anything to say about the human price being paid for all this prosperity.